The latest Boeing and aerospace news, including updates about the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, 747-8 and 737, Airbus A380 and A350, the anticipated Boeing 797 and Boeing jobs and layoffs

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Boeing’s Albaugh: 737 will cost less to operate than A320neo

A Boeing 737-800 with upgrades aimed at cutting fuel use by 2 percent takes off on its first flight in November 2010. (Boeing)

Even after Airbus outfits its A320 Family with new, more-efficient engines, Boeing’s competing 737 will be cheaper to operate, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and Chief Executive Jim Albaugh said Friday.

“Right now, the 737 from an operating-cost standpoint — cost of acquisition, cost of operation — is about 8 percent better than the Airbus product,” Albaugh said after a celebration of his company’s Air Force tanker contract win. “Even after the re-engine we’ll be 2 percent better, and that’s if we do nothing on this airplane. We are going to do some things. One thing we will always have is the most capable and the most efficient airplane in every market that we serve.”
Boeing officials have indicated the company will probably skip re-engining the 737 in favor of building a new aircraft that would enter service in 2019 or 2020. They’re continuing to look at 737 improvements in the meantime and are currently flight testing a package of changes expected to reduce fuel consumption by 2 percent.

On Friday, Albaugh affirmed that airlines are looking for about a 20-percent reduction in fuel use from a new narrow-body aircraft, adding: “In total cost of ownership they’re looking for something in the double digits. And if you look at just a simple re-engine and you look at the complexity that that introduces to the fleets, you look at the added cost to the engine the added cost to the airplane, the financial benefit to the airlines is marginal.”

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